Law

The Law of God given through Moses at Sinai is not a rulebook for earning salvation. It is the covenant charter for Israel as Yahweh’s people: the terms of the relationship that followed the Exodus redemption, not the means of obtaining it. Yahweh does not give Israel the Law in order to save them; he saves them first and then gives them the Law as the pattern of life for those who already belong to him.

This sequence matters enormously. The Ten Commandments begin: “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” The redemption comes before the Law. Israel is not commanded to obey in order to earn their place as God’s people; they are commanded to obey because they already are. The Law shows redeemed people how to live in covenant with the redeeming God.

What the Law cannot do is save. Paul makes this clear in Romans and Galatians: the Law exposes sin, condemns sin, and pronounces a curse on everyone who does not keep all of it, but it provides no power to obey it. Christ came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it: to meet its full demand on behalf of those who could not. The New Covenant does not make the Law irrelevant; it makes it inward, written by the Spirit on the heart rather than on stone. The articles below trace the Law through several of its most significant passages.